New York

"Well Kitten, glad you decided to join us," Xine said

It was a good thing everyone got settled when they did, because just as Xine managed to take his foot off the brake, a bullet smashed through his rearview mirror. "Shit," Xine yelled as he took off down the freeway.

Xine leaned his head back enough so that his passengers could hear him. "Sit tight everyone, i got me a schedule to keep. Y'all comfy back there? I'm Xine, by the way, nice to meet you all. This lovely young gentleman next to me is Peppers...." Xine gave his greetings to his passengers. He looked in the mirror at the people in the back, and between the road and the people, he started to let his mind wander. "Hmm... these people look familiar," Xine thought to himself, "save for the white-suit dude... Where have i seen them before...?"

"So everyone, where will it be?"

"I'm Angel"she said looking around by now they were in the streets and the guys from the Cafe weren't behind them yet. They were probably having trouble with t heir car or something

"Next stop would be my house" she said telling Xine were to go to. Things were going out of control. There is no way that she could be a mutant better yet her parents. She needed a good explanation and her dad and mom were the right people to talk to. As soon as her house came into view she hoped the guys weren't get oo amazed.

“No… no… were not going to anyone’s house… pull over… we need to change the plate’s… get a paint job at the least…” He looked at this supposed angel. “Lets get something strait sweet heart… do you really want a truck those guys are looking for stopping in front of your house? That doesn’t sound like a…. I live here please storm the place and forcefully interrogate my parents and friends at your leisure? Were doing things my way… you know why… because its quite simply… who here has killed someone?” He said raising his hand. “Who hasn’t been sent to jail for it?” He said keeping his hand suspended in the air. “See… who knows how to escape cops… who probably have more resources then these jokers… I do… number one rule about escaping… never lead your enemies to your house… as far as we know they could have multiple cars… mop up agents… mutant agents…” He said looking over everyone present. “Far as I know… one of you could be one of them… a inside agent… leading us into a trap… and as such… I can’t take that chance…”

Rayoni looks at him curiously, "Where are we going to go then?"

She was still very confused about everything that had just happened. Her drawings had never come to life before, but then she thought, her drawings had been disappearing a lot lately. But she didn't think anything of it. She looked at everyone in the back of the truck with her then back at Ravant.

“Quite simple… are driver shall take us to his home… if their tracking us they already have your license plate number… which means if they are following us they already know where you live… thus we won’t put anyone whom isn’t already in danger in danger…”

"Well that is a cold way of looking at things, But he does have a point..." Peppers said thoughtfully. "Xine, Are your parent's home right now? Or are they gone? Because if those people ARE tracking us, it would profit no one if we all got caught, AND put your parents in danger. But If your parents are not home, then we would be putting no one in danger but ourselves. I do not believe that they would harm innocents that stood out of their way. They will watch for sure, but not interfere unless provoked to. So who do we plan on putting in danger for our own gain?" He asked turning his head to the small crowd in the bed of the truck.

(Allright guys the reason I said that we were going to Angels house is because this is where we find out that our parents have been taken away. That is also were we find out that we are mutants. You either have a letter, video, or someting that your parents left you saying their goodbyes)

At this point Angel was stating to loose her temper. "If you don't take me home then Ill just go myself. Those guys aren't following us anymore. How do we even know that they have your license plates? They're probably still on the floor, or trying to control those two kids" she said screaming through the window. She just wanted to go home. It was the only place she felt safe.

Peppers winced, "OK, OK, We'll do what you say, Just stop screaming into my ear." He said this with his eyes tightly shut, and his hand over his right ear. Turning to Xine he said, "I need to go to my house to pick up my other outfit. Shoot me a text and tell me where to go." With that Xine stepped on the breaks, bringing it to 25 mph, and Peppers rolled out the door into some grass next to the road, and ran off before anyone could stop the two from doing this.

Serah watched the argument in tensed silence figuring perhaps the other girl was correct. Their own houses were the safest places to be and she had to check on her family. She had this feeling that something just wasn't right. If the police were really cracking down on mutants then they would probably check the houses and streets intensely. "I'm going to my house. I'll find you again. I have your scents anyways." She chuckled under her breath then watched the boy leap out on to the grass. Taking her time preparing herself for the jump she leapt out of the car and rolled across the yard that she had landed on not-so-gracefully.

"Now then. I need to go this way." She looked at the boy a few feet in front of her before turning and heading the opposite way up the street. She turned down the first alley she saw knowing her way to her own house. She wanted to get there as fast as she could so that that feeling could disappear. She hoped her family was okay because she knew they all were mutants. Thing was, that her family hid it so well but there could be other factors that came in and noticed the mysterious nature of her family. So it was a good thing to get home as soon as possible.

Everything was moving too fast for Xine. First his rag-tag team of escapees wanted to go home, then to his house, then back home, he just wanted people to make up their damn minds. "Shoot me a text and tell me where to go," Peppers said before jumping out of the truck. Xine slowed down, and let his friend jump off the truck safely. "Alright dude, handle yourself well," Xine shouted after his friend. A few nanoseconds later, the girl with glasses jumped off, too. 'Ah well, less weight,' Xine thought to himself. Xine sped the truck up so the change in speed would shut the door Peppers so carelessly left open. "Alright, Angel," Xine said looking towards Angel, "Your place first, and then yours, Shawshank," Xine finished, glancing at the guy in the white suit. "My place is just down the street here, so we'll hit up my place and then we'll get you guys home."

Xine pulled into his driveway at the same reckless speed he knew his dad hated, he could already hear his dad yelling at him for his recklessness. "You guys sit tight, i'll be right back," Xine said to his three passengers in the back. Xine got out of the driver seat and started to pull out his house key when he noticed the front door was already slightly ajar. 'That's odd,' Xine thought to himself. Xine walked in, and found the house uncannily quiet. Usually his mom and her friends were over, talking about neighborhood gossip and all that, but everything was silent. Xine walked into his room, and threw together a small backpack with his laptop, his toys, and his spare cash. Xine then moved to his closet and grabbed his katana, the very one he and Peppers decided to make their first summer, just to see if they could. It never turned out very pretty, but over the years, they had re-done the metal with the proper technique and made it traditional.

Smiling at the fond memory, Xine then moved to make hs way out, until he decided to glance in his parents' room. There, on the dresser, Xine saw his dad's favorite watch. It was an older type, with a gold outline and think black wriststrap. This was strange, as Xine's dad always wore that watch, it was his favorite after all. This was nowhere near as odd as the envelope left next to it with his own, full name on it. Xine moved carefully, very suspicious now, and stood ready with his katana in hand. He swept the room over with his eyes, and then proceeded to the small "shrine" on the dresser. He opened the envelope, and read the letter.

"Xine, when we told you we love you, we meant every word of it, and always will. If you're reading this letter, then we've done everything in our power to protect you from this threat. We know this is going to raise more questions than answers, and we ask that you be patient when dealing with these issues, but please don't search too deep. The road ahead of you is rough, and the questions are best left unanswered for the time being. You're 18 now, you're a man, and we expect you to carry yourself as such. We regret that you must find this done this way, but it's necessary. when the time is right, you will know the answers you seek. Keep the place, it's our gift to you, and grow to the man we know you're supposed to be.

We love you son, always remember that."

Xine read the letter over again a second time, and somehing just didn't seem to sit well with him. Xine ran back to his room and fired up his desktop. It was already set to the main screen, not his login like he always left it. He ran a quick check over the usage logs, and every single byte of his computer had been searched, transferred, and sifted through. "Shit," Xine said to himself. Xine ran a quick comparison of the letters' handwriting to the handwriting of his parents, and sure enough, neither matched. Xine had scanned and analyzed his parents' handwriting in the past to forge excuse notes and the like for his classes. The note was a fake, and Xine smelled something rotten. He killed the desktop, and went back to his parents' room. He searched and he searched, and finally came across his dad's hunting bag. Xine sifted through and puled out the Glock .45 and all the extra clips and rounds he could find for it. He grabbed the shoulder strap at he bottom of the hunting bag, put it on, and moved for the main room. As he took his first step, he glanced back at his dad's watch. He picked it up, examining it closely. Sure enough, it was his dad's watch, it had the same knick in it that Xine had put on the face when he was five. Xine strapped the watch to his wrist and moved to the front room. He pulled all the lighter fluid he could dig out of the pantry and splayed it everywhere in the front room. "Those fakes want me to stay here, i'll burn the entire thing to the ground... Those assholes." If Xine's hate had been any more searing at that moment, the bottle of lighter fluid may very well have burst in his hand. Xine poured all the lighter fluid on the furniture, the walls, the floor, anywhere he could toss it in his rage. He too his little box of matches from his pocket, flicked one light, and held it to his eyes. 'I have my mothers' dream, I have my fathers' eyes..." Xine flung the match towards the oily front rom, and watched as flames began springing to life. "You can't take those from me, Just go ahead and try."

Xine rushed out the front door to his passengers, and climbed back in the driver seat, and without saying a word, started up the truck and pulled away. He didn't want to see his home, the once safest place on earth, dissappear. As he pulled away, towards the main roads again, he looked in his rearview mirror, and saw the flames begin to lick away at the windows. Xine fought back tears, but one managed to escape, and he blinked it into oblivion. "Just go ahead and try."

Rayoni just sat in the back silently and noticed the flames in the windows of the house and thought why would someone burn down their own house? She kinda looked at Xine trying to figure out what was going through his head. She couldn't really tell from where she was sitting. She leaned back against the wall of the truck bed and sighed. "Best day ever," she mumbled sarcastically.

Ravant had sat back in the truck’s bed, a raised a brow as he was watching the fire. He let out a long winded sigh at Rayoni’s comment. “Oh but the day has only just begun… plenty of festivities left to survive through.” He looked around trying to figure out how far away from his house they were. “Lets go to her house next… rather not stop at mine… as I prefer the Schrodinger cat theory… if I don’t open this damned box… it hasn’t happened yet.”

Angel could only imagined how bad it was when Xine went into his house. Though she knew that it wasn't good since he had pretty much set the house on fire. She just sat in the back with her head low. Only listening to the others talk. Ravant was right though, the day was just begenning and they just had eachother. After driving for a couple of minutes they had arrived at her house.

"Stop right here" she said as she jumped out of the back. As soon as she got to the door she knew there was something odd. The door wasn't locked and that was something her parents never did. They were always careful. When she opened the door she went in slowly. Trying to figure out if anything was missing or if anything had gone wrong. Plenty of things were, the sofa had been moved a feet or so from where it was supposed to be. When she walked in the kitchen the chairs weren't placed back. They were facing each other. Her parents were neat freaks and everything had to be placed back as it was. By now she was starting to freak out. She ran into her parents room but there was no one there.

Her mom was usually up here knitting and watching television. When she walked into her room she knew that someone had walked in there. She could tell because someone's cologne lingered in the air. And it wasn't one that her dad owned or her mom. The most strangest thing was the object that was in her bed. It was her mom knitting needles.

"What are you guys doing here?'" she said as she noticed that they were pointing at the portrait at the wall. That was were her parents had placed a small safe behind a portrait she had painted years ago. Only they knew the combination apart from her. When she opened it there was a small book that was covered in cloth and a letter. As soon as she saw the letter her eyes started watering. The handwriting was her mom. She grabbed the letter and the book and some money that she had been saving for years. It was going to be her vacation money. She stuffed that into a backpack and some light weight clothes. It didn't take long before she was back outside. She closed the door and headed to the front of the car.

"They know were we live" she said as tears ran down her face. She tried hard as she possible not to bust out crying. "those vans we saw earlier, they were coming for our parents" she said as she placed her hands on her face.

Rayoni looks at Angel and frowns a bit then looks at Xine and tells him where her house is. By this time she was anxieous to get home. She still didn't believe what was going on. The whole time she just kept thinking, "no, i must just be caught up in these peoples troubles, nothing this bad would happen to me right?" But as soon as she saw Angel's tears it hit her. Something this bad WAS happening to her. But she still did not want to believe it, she knew that there was a 99% chance that it was happening to her as well, but she was hoping...praying deep down inside that that 1% chance was the real case.

Rayoni looks at Angel and frowns a bit then looks at Xine and tells him where her house is. By this time she was anxieous to get home. She still didn't believe what was going on. The whole time she just kept thinking, "no, i must just be caught up in these peoples troubles, nothing this bad would happen to me right?" But as soon as she saw Angel's tears it hit her. Something this bad WAS happening to her. But she still did not want to believe it, she knew that there was a 99% chance that it was happening to her as well, but she was hoping...praying deep down inside that that 1% chance was the real case.

Ravant pulled the hammer back on his revolver until it issued a click. “The way I see it… they’ve just declared war… I say we show these two-bit bastards the number one reason not to screw with our families… nothing to lose… and very pissed off. A combination no one should screw with.” He said closing his eyes in thought he knew this couldn’t be a coincidence that he found them… after all similar things seem to stick together… he still didn’t know what the hell made him a mutant… but he hoped it involved something useful… like fireballs or lightning.

Xine drove the directions he was given to go to Rayoni's house. With his parents missing, and his own house now burning bright, and Angel sitting in the truck bed and crying, his only thought was that she should have done the exact same thing. 'What the hell is going on? The news report earlier today had been flaunting a whole bust on a house full of mutants... The black vans at the Cafe had been interested in two boys... But why would they need that much firepower for just two people, unless...' And then it hit Xine. The black vans had been interested in Mutants. It couldn't be simple coincidence that his parents had gone missing, and Angel emerged from her house crying... Xine looked back at Angel in the truck bed, holding her head. The poor girl was doing everything she could to keep it together, and embodied the very emotions Xine was trying so hard to conceal. Xine had seen Angels mutation, the wings and the white hair, and could put two-and-two together to understand why HER parents may have been taken, but why his? He wasn't a mutant, and neither were his parents... Were they targeting him for aiding and abetting mutants?

Xine glanced in the back of the truck, to find Ravant carelessly waving a gun around. “The way I see it… they’ve just declared war… I say we show these two-bit bastards the number one reason not to screw with our families… nothing to lose… and very pissed off. A combination no one should screw with," Ravant declared. "Hey, put that shit away," Xine interjected, "And stop jumping to conclusions. You still have EVERYTHING to lose, including your life. We're a select few that's been affected, hardly what i'd call an army capable of waging a war."

Xine thought about it. He certainly wanted the blood of the people responsible, but what could he, a single human do? he didn't have fantastic powers like the mutants he'd seen in the news, he didn't even have small powers. Nothing could help him aside from his singular gun, and his favorite sword, hardly a threat to any of those armored ass-hats that raided the Cafe. He had indeed gotten better, stronger, and faster in his training with his best friend, but he still felt over-powered by the sheer force and numbers of the black vans and their occupants. it seemed a check mate.

Xine pulled into the driveway for Rayonis' house, and waited for her to do her thing. 'For all our sakes, and mostly yours, i hope your parents are still in there...' Xine thought to himself. Xine rolled his wrist over to further examine the watch he took from his house before burning it down. He thought it over again, and decided, 'Guess i'm in this for the long haul...' Xine watched the gears inside the watch twist and turn, watched the main gear tic-tic-tic-tic and make everything work. He was entranced by it, and eventually lost himself in his own thoughts. Xine felt. Xine listened. There were sirens he couldn't hear before, both police and ambulance. Hell was breaking loose, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. People he never knew, people that had lives, people with families, friends, children, lives ripped apart by those mysterious black vans and their minions of destruction. Xine felt those peoples' pain, and he couldn't bear it. He knew what he had to do. He decided he couldn't let anyone experience the pain that Angel felt, no one deserved that. Mutant or no, Xine would help them. He would be the first human to fight with the mutants.

Xine came back to reality. He saw his watch in front of him, and chuckled at his own foolishness. He couldn't partake in a revolution. He always let his thoughts get the better of him. He didn't even know if those sirens he heard were because of mutant strings, and he sure as hell hoped they weren't. His last peice of hope lied in Rayoni, for her to come bursting out that door with at least one of her parents in tow, telling everyone else that they could come inside and work something out, maybe go back to school and take that test he had been so eager to take only a couple hours ago, and find his parents. "For all our sakes, Rayoni, I hope you bring us some good news... But mostly for your own sake, i hope you've eluded this dreadful nightmare..." Xine mumbled to himself.

Peppers ran home as fast as he could. It was three miles away and out of range, but he recognized this area. It took him about 14 minutes to get there. He was distracted at first, the girl that smelt like cats and had ears and a tail jumped out after him, and did not land quite right. he was worried at first, but she got up and ran in a different direction. he monitored her to make sure she was ok until she was out of range. at that point he knew she was good. As he ran, he was almost home when he caught an incredibly strong scent of smoke coming in the direction of Xines house. "What happened?" he wondered. He did not know for sure whether it was his house or not, but after today, he was on edge and paranoid. After all, His best friend WAS a mutant. "Should I tell him?" he asked himself. "He will probably try to kill me..."

When he arrived at his house, he ignored the front door as he had the past two years. If he used the door, that meant a greater chance of running into his mom and step dude. He avoided them as much as possible on a normal basis. and now that he was running away from home, he REALLY did not want anything to do with them. His step dad would probably be happy though... Oh well, can't make everybody miserable at once.he jumped the fence, took a few steps to his below his second story window, and ran straight up the wall and stepped onto his window sill. he shuffled through the filth of his room, grabbing his largest assault pack, filling it with clothes, weapons, a few small survival manuals and his Bible. Holding it, he muttered, "Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam, yotzer ha-adam. Blessed are You, Adonai, our God, Ruler of the universe, Who has fashioned human beings in your image, according to your likeness and has fashioned from it a lasting mold. Blessed are You Adonai, Creator of Human Beings." He placed the Bible carefully on top. "My friends, although Mutants, are still God's Creation, and made on an equal plane as the rest of us. not higher, Definately not lower." Although a Jew, he still believed Jesus to be God and relished the Bible in it's entirety.

After closing the pack, he stepped over to his closet, and took one of three suits that was hung up. the first was his real dad's BDUs from when he was in the Army, the second was a suit that he wore on special occasions. The third, and one he took, was a grey suit that he only wore when he knew a fight was coming. it was designed to look like a traditional Kung-fu uniform, but modified for his own use. He changed into it quickly, and loaded the specialised pockets with the weapons they were designed to fit. The heaviest were the twin single handed battle axes on his back. He also changed his sunglasses to goggles that would not fall off, and still covered most of his face like he wanted. Xine helped him pick them out, and told him when they covered the scars. He must have been making too much noise though, he heard his mom's footsteps coming up to his room. He quickly made his way to the windowsill, and crouched on it facing the door. It creaked open, while his mom's scent flooded the room. He waited until her head poked through, and smiled at her. She gave a short gasp as he fell backwards from the window. He caught himself easily and threw his body into a back-hand spring, and landed in the neighbor's yard, where she could not see him. He heard her shreik and slam the door running downstairs to tell the step-dude. He smiled at himself thinking, "Mabey that was too much. but he caught the scent of the cat girl, and decided to meet up with her. "Together we could find the rest of the group easily." He told himself. But his true motive was that he was frightened for any of them to be alone. in pairs, at least one could escape, and get the others. but he did not want to think such thoughts right now. Today was a good day... It always was.

Rayoni sighs to herself, looking at her home, something didn't feel right, and she didn't like it. She jumped out of the bed of the truck and went inside.

As soon as she stepped inside she could tell that her hopes of everything being okay for her...were wrong. She walked inside all the way and she could smell it, a light smell of blood. She went to her parents rooms and saw a little blood on one of the walls. She knew her parents wouldn't have gone out without at least a little fight, they were too stubborn. The blood she saw was not enough to kill someone, so at least she could assume that they were still alive.

She could feel herself becoming angered, so she quickly went to her room to grab a few things and sees a note on top of her pile of sketch books. She picked up, though she could already guess what it said considering everything that happened today. She read it and it was exactly everything she thought it was going to be, telling her that she is a mutant and what not, explaining everything. She stares at it for a moment then folds it up and puts it in her pocket.

She grabbed another sketch book and a few other things and put them in a book bag and took a look around her house silently, knowing that she most likely would never come back to it. She felt sad, but anger over powered her sadness and she walked back outside and climbed back into the truck bed and didn't really look at anyone. She had this look in her eye, like she was going to kill something.

“I guess… we go to my house next… “ He pointed out the way to Xine until the car truck came to a stop in front of a large almost manor sized house. “I’ll be back shortly…” He said jumping off the truck’s bed and going inside. He moved quickly looking around until he found a disk putting it into his computer he sighed at what the recording said. He quickly went into tis parent’s bed room opening a floor safe he emptied out a good deal of money and several extra boxes of revolver ammo. “Of coarse… never tell me where the dam gun locker key is…” He grumbled before taking a duffle bag and packing several suits, and a universal recharger. He climbed back into the truck several minuets later. Those bastards wanted war… they were about to get war.

Serah made it to her house without much trouble. She hadn't seen the police or any other suspicious person rather than her neighbors looking out window at her figure. Her sweaty, tired, irritated figure. "Darn! I hate running sometimes." She hissed under breath looking up at her house. She mentally prepared herself as she stepped inside, taking off her hat to reveal her ears. "Hello? Anyone home? Mother? Father?" She heard deafening silence in response. It disturbed her, yet piqued her interest. Serah moved further in scenting the air and pausing every few minutes to look around the corners and burst into rooms checking for people. She hadn't noticed anyone so far but there was this peculiar scent in the air. It was one of gunpowder. Something that would have never belonged in her home. Swords and metal were a natural scent but that sour metallic odor of fire and human sweat was disgusting. She wrinkled her nose hoping to dispel the horrible scent. She even feared opening her mouth less she taste it for some reason or another. She moved out to the dojo but stopped short.

Blood.

Serah smelled that always ominous warm coppery scent of blood. The scent that most humans would even cringe from. Serah took a step back into the shadows of the hall fear lacing with her adrenaline. She had been trying to mask her fear and act calm. She trusted her family to be safe. There was no way that someone could defeat them. They were the Mindanao family. They were trained to fight. How would it have been possible to defeat them? Serah felt the fur on her ears and tail stand on end. Her senses all went on hyper drive. She couldn't face what was in there. She knew it was the blood of her family.

My mother, and father. They might be dead. I could die if I go in. I have to know though. I can't just leave it to suspicions. Maybe my nose is somehow plugged and I just think that's their blood?

Serah reached to her shoulders where she had strapped the blade she always carried around. If death awaited her then she would make sure she defended her family's title honorably. Serah shoved the door open and stepped inside. The scene she faced wasn't the one she wanted to find. Swords lay around the ground covered in blood and it was obvious a fight had gone on in the room. She could already imagine her father facing horrible men dressed in black. She moved over to where a pool of blood had gone stagnant. After staring at it and scenting it for what seemed like forever, she spotted a piece of her father's clothes soaked in the blood. It was the tiniest piece but it proved that her father was injured and could possibly be dead. Serah stood quickly tears brimming at the corners of her eyes but she stifled them just as easily. She could feel a new conviction in her heart. "I'll kill them. I will. No matter what it takes." She took the next few minutes cleaning up the blood even though every time she looked at the red pools it made her want to hurl or worse cry. She wanted her parents to have a place of rest though. She didn't wanna leave her supposed home in this condition. So she cleaned up and set everything in order the best she could. After she finished she moved to pick up her father's sword. She knew she would never use it but she felt some sort of attachment to it. Serah went to find the strap in his bedroom so that she could take the sword with her.

Serah found her parents bedroom and rummaged through their drawers to find a strap that would fit. Something happened as she was going through her mother's desk where her father something sneaked things in. She found a gray photo of herself as a baby. She could feel the sentimental value of the photo like her mother looked at the image every night. She could see in the back of her mind that mother that seemed so bothersome looking at this photo and thinking 'I love them.' Serah took the photo and stored it in her pocket. After a little more prodding she found the strap and headed out of the house.

Serah took one look back as she was several feet aways from the house. It was the spot she had stood some times before to look up at her house wondering where her life would take her. Destiny was a funny thing. You would think that your life was all daisies and roses then suddenly the petals fell from the stems and turned black. You still were expected to move on in life.

How ironic. I'll miss you. I'll come back someday though. Eventually, when I can face up to myself and kill those people for what they have done although you might still be out there. If you are, I will come find you. I promise.

(Hey guys sorry that I haven't been posting. But to move the story we are going to be found my someone that comes from the Haven of mutants. Those that aren't in the truck just post saying hat you got picked up somewhere.)

Angel was in the front seat just holding the book and the letter. She didn't dare to open it of fear of reading something she didn't want to. They had been riding for a while and didn't know where they were going. But at this rate it didn't matter. Their faces were probably being shown all over the world. Dangerous mutants on the loose, she could already hear it on the radio, posters all over.

"Where are we going to go? I'm pretty sure that word had gotten out about what happened" she said as she placed the letter and the book into her backpack.

Peppers only had to run a few blocks to find the Cat girl, her heart was racing, and the chemical he tasted was of anger. He noticed that she had two swords. the one she had before on her back, and now one she was attaching an old strap to. He stopped running as he reached the front of her yard and decided to stand by the gate and wait patiently. She glanced up at him and asked, "Why are you here? Stalking me?" he chuckled at this grimly. "No. just was worried about a new friend. I found that you were nearby and thought that we might as well find the rest of the group together." "I don't need your help. I could probably find them better than you any way." she said haughtily. "Well, if that is the case, I guess you can handle fighting off whatever killed your parents better without my help too." They are not dead!" she screamed at him. "I know they are not! And WILL find them!" she gave him a look that could kill could see her eyes. he smiled for the first time since she met him. "Very nice. Very nice indeed. You have something worth fighting for. More than I can say." Thinking for a second, Serah asked, How did you know that something happened to my parents?" "This house wreaks of death. And I smelled the blood of those who smell like you." "So you are a mutant too?" Now laughing, he answered, "No, I am just talented. Trust me, I am no mutant. And please do not think that my saying that means that I look down on you. It does not." After fixing the second sword to herself, she finally said, "Fine, Lets go find the others." She closed her eyes and smelled the air. she opened them and pointed north, "they are that way!" she said as she realized that he was already running down the street in the direction that she pointed. When she caught up with him, he asked, "What is your name? I would hate to keep calling you cat girl, or kitty or whatever. Although, I did know a girl named Kat, so It would not be that uncommon I suppose..." "Call me Serah. How about you?" "I am commonly referred to as Peppers. But any name will do as long as it is obvious that you are referring to me."

After running a few minutes, Peppers said, "Would you find it entertaining to scare the living daylights out of them?" giving him a puzzled look, she answered, "Uhh, Sure?" He gave a smile that after that, she would only see him give, before a really big fight. He increased his speed dramatically, and jumped out of the alleyway that they were running in, and straight into the open window of the other boy's truck. She cursed at herself for not smelling them sooner, but she was distracted by the loss of her parents. then she realized what Peppers was doing and screamed. But his body was not there like she expected it to be. she ran around the corner to find the truck stopped on the side of the road, with dark skid marks trailing behind it, and Peppers hanging out the window waving at her to get in. As she got closer, she herd a long stream of cussing flowing out of the windows like a waterfall. She herd Peppers' name thrown in every few seconds, so she was not worried at being in trouble with the driver. She hopped in the bed of the truck met by three confused faces. "What happened?" the boy in the white suit asked. "We found you guys. That is what happened."